The Lone Elm

Driving in Ireland

In April, my daughter and I spent a week in Ireland, mostly on the west coast in Connemara (County Galway) and the Burren (County Clare). We got used to left-side driving on the new highway between Dublin and Galway.  We were amused by the GPS showing that we were driving across fields rather than on any road; obviously the mapping had not yet been updated. 

Connemara is a wild landscape.  Electricity and cars did not become established until the latter half of the 1900's.  With the real estate bubble, however, new houses have sprung up and tourists are more common.   The local roads haven't changed, bordered by hedgerows and rock walls. Sheep and Connemara ponies populate the fields, and even run loose, creating occasional driving obstacles.

 

The host at our B&B in Fanore (County Clare), Noel, drives a scheduled passenger bus, going from Doolin (a little bit south of Fanore) to Galway City.  I told him that I was impressed with the brinksmanship that the buses engaged in on the narrow roads causing the oncoming traffic to edge over to the left as far as one dares, slowing or stopping if necessary.  These are often gorgeous, unblemished behemoths that come at you with a certainty that you WILL get out of their way.    I pointed out that these buses are often driving over the line (where there is one) taking up more than their fair share of the road.  Obviously, they intend to remain unblemished and let the foreign yokels pay for the scratches that are inevitable as you sidle up to the hedgerow and rock walls.  

Local farmers are not very friendly on the road either.  We were poking around on a one-track road, when all of a sudden we were faced with a modern John Deere with a front-end loader right in our face.  It was very clear that he was not going to back up.  Backing up is not my favorite thing,  but I slowly moved in reverse with the farmer creeping right up on my front, just so I could remember he was there.  We finally were able to get off on the side and he roared past.    Needless to say, one-track road driving is not for the faint of heart. 

Noah's sage driving advice was to engage in one's own bit of road intimidation by always leaving at least a foot of space on the left side of the car.  You have a place to move to if you absolutely have to, but maybe you can get the oncoming traffic to move over instead.  Is there is relevance for life in general in that advice?

Life with One-Leg (Temporary)

I broke my fibula bone near my left ankle two weeks ago.  Since then, and for three more weeks, I need to keep my weight off of my left leg.  So, I am experiencing what others cope with for much longer, or for even most, or all, of their lives. 

I find people want to help.  This is refreshing, and I am pleased that people do want to help. However, I am trying to get around by myself, and working hard to do it without help.  I am happy that my muscles are getting stronger, particularly in my upper body and my right leg.  They aren't going to get stronger if I sit in a wheel chair, and my crutch skills aren't going to get better if I don't use them.  (I hate the crutches and consider them a treacherous but necessary evil.)  So, I try to be the "happy warrior."  I will ask when I need help.  Perhaps the best thing to ask is "How are you doing? Is there anything I can do to help?"  And, don't be upset if I say "No."

I appreciate the opportunity to work at home all week and engage in a forced slowdown.  Interestingly, I am actually able to be more productive.  (I am a consultant and am fully outfitted with the necessary electronics.)  It has not taken much to set up the house so I can work, eat, and even cook a decent meal.

I am unhappy about not being able to spend time outside -- work on my garden, walk around, and soak in the sun (at least when it is sunny).  At this point, I actually wouldn't mind a few bug bites, although I am concerned about having a tick crawl under my cast and gorge on my emaciating leg.

I am learning about how difficult it is to get around as a handicapped person.  Despite years of ADA adjustments to sidewalks, parking lots and buildings, I find I must make a clear-eyed assessment of what I have to deal with at a particular site.  I am finding that the handicapped parking places may be all full, leaving me to hike in on my crutches, in the rain, from a far corner of a parking lot.  Or that the handicapped ramp may not be very near a door.  Or that there is not a curb cut at all at a small strip mall, like the one that has my favorite Asian store.  

So, in three weeks I will have a walking cast, and my interregnum will end.  Maybe I won't rush back into the pre-broken foot lifestyle.

Feisty Women in the Movies

What was in the air in the early 1950's?  In addition to Annie Get Your Gun (see entry here),  check out this particularly feisty scene in Calamity Jane.  

Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better Than You

I think that this is the theme song for the Obama years -- apparently the government can do anything better than you and I.  Let's hope we have Annie's strength of spirit.

Did Orszag Really Say This?

Stephen Dinan and David Sands report for the Washington Times about the issues with President Obama's Budget.  Specifically, many people are highly critical of the proposal to cut back the tax advantages of charitable contributions for "wealthy" (individuals with income over $200,000, couples with income over $250,000) taxpayers.  Apparently, this provision is estimated to generate additional tax receipts of about $180 billion over ten years.  Roberton Williams of the Tax Policy Center points out that philanthropic giving will decline as a result.  Apparently, Budget Director Orszag's response was that the federal government would compensate for those reductions!

First, his point contradicts the whole point of the tax revenue impact of the proposal.  But more fundamentally, this is patently ridiculous. Is this what he really believes?  That the government is better at making decisions that individuals are?   We are going to pay more taxes, and donate less, so the government can get more involved in deciding which philanthropic organizations should be supported?  We now will have an expensive intermediary (the government) who will also impose its policy views on what are "good" or "bad" activities to support.  And, no doubt, the government will hang on those donations various "restrictions" and criteria for the money's use.

It is going to be a very long four years.

A Real Winter

In the depths of winter I finally learned
there was in me an invincible summer.

by Albert Camus

This quote from Camus pretty well sums it up.  But for summer, why would we put up with such an intense and difficult experience?  However, there is plenty to enjoy about a real winter.  The Dutch are thrilled that they can again skate on the canals, according to a story in the International Herald Tribune.  However, many skaters are ending up in the emergency room with fractures, sprains and other injuries!  But being able to get out and skate for the first time in 12 years must be thrilling.  See also this lovely blog entry and photos at Letters Home  I also love this photo with the windmills in the background at Macleans.ca. 

Here in Southern NH we are stuck in the deep freeze.  Night time temps around zero, or even lower, daytime in the teens.  Pretty brutal.  We are expecting a good amount of snow tonight and tomorrow.  We will need to get out and have fun in it!  I will also spend time studying my seed catalogues in anticipation of Spring.

Congress is Packing a Barrel of Pork

I woke up this morning to hear on NPR Nancy Pelosi lauding the hard work that the House appropriation committee members have put in to developing the massive $850 stimulus bill. It is hard when you are trying to accommodate the dearest wishes of hundreds of Democratic congressmen and probably some Republican ones to boot.  This bill is a melange of something for everyone, and awesome in its size and scope -- tax cuts for the select groups of individuals, tax credits, grants to local governments, spending aid ....  Amanda Carpenter at TownHall has a shopping list of some of the items that have been tossed into this salad.  The amounts of money tagged and the variety of topics is staggering.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the emphasis is on government spending as being "the best and fastest way to create jobs."  Sorry, but that is just not credible.    Congress wants to direct the spending because they can't be sure that the private sector or individuals will spend the money the "right" way - we might save it or use it to pay down debt, which don't create jobs, but might get us out of this economic slump a little faster.  In addition, all economists know that government spending is one of the least efficient ways to pump money into the economy.  For goodness sake, why can't they just figure out a dollar value of stimulus, and send us all checks?

Pileated Woodpecker Appearance

Photo by Vicki's Nature, Flickr.  CC License.

Last night our heatwave finally broke, and this morning we woke to fresh, cool sunny weather.  The calm was pierced by the raucous cry of a large bird.  I peered out from the screened porch and saw our resident male pileated woodpecker on a nearby tree.  What a sight!  Marcia Bonta describes the pileated to be like a miniature pterodactl, not a bad comparison. It is the largest woodpecker. The pileated is also a loud bird.   Ms. Bonta's description: "Pileateds are also the big mouths of the woodpecker world, their demonic-sounding laughter echoing from ridgetop to ridgetop as they keep in touch with their lifelong partners. In addition, both male and female pileateds are master drummers, and frequently proclaim their dominion over the territory that they hold until they die. And, when one or the other partner does die, the surviving mate holds on to their territory and waits for another mate to appear."

An Anti-Terrorism Islamic Pop Music Video, Finally

INDC Journal and Belmont Club bring my attention to a hot new pop song and video that is making waves in Pakistan and is now global titled Yeh Hum Naheen.   It's quite a catchy little tune with major Pakistani artists in the video.  Hang in for the very last frame, which is the bottom line.  As Wretchard points out, maybe this expression by popular public figures will help other, regular folks have the strength to stand up to terrorists. I think it may also help all of us to keep in mind who we are supporting in this war.

Death and Life

Everytime someone near to me dies, I consider life and how I am
living.  My aunt passed away last weekend, and tomorrow I am going to
be with family for her funeral. I have one more direct blood relative in the
generation before me, which is cause for reflection.  Thanks to Old Poetry for
providing the opportunity to browse through a number of Walt Whitman poems!

Walt Whitman
On The Beach At Night, Alone

ON the beach at night alone,
As the old mother sways her to and fro, singing her husky song,
As I watch the bright stars shining—I think a thought of the clef of
         the universes, and of the future.

A VAST SIMILITUDE interlocks all,
All spheres, grown, ungrown, small, large, suns, moons, planets,
         comets, asteroids,
All the substances of the same, and all that is spiritual upon the
         same,
All distances of place, however wide,
All distances of time—all inanimate forms,
All Souls—all living bodies, though they be ever so different, or in
         different worlds,
All gaseous, watery, vegetable, mineral processes—the fishes, the
         brutes,
                                           
All men and women—me also;
All nations, colors, barbarisms, civilizations, languages;
All identities that have existed, or may exist, on this globe, or any
         globe;
All lives and deaths—all of the past, present, future;
This vast similitude spans them, and always has spann'd, and shall
         forever span them, and compactly hold them, and enclose them.

Paris - The Organ at St. Sulpice (Part 1)

At about 9am on Sunday morning, The Sapling and I headed out to l'Eglise (church) St. Sulpice.  We worked our way through the Marais to a bridge crossing the Seine to Isle St. Louis, then down to Isle de la Cite, past Notre Dame, and then across to the Left Bank and the Latin Quarter.  Then we wended our way to Boulevard Saint Germain, a throughway created by Baron Hausmann, and finally over to St. Sulpice.  It was another beautiful morning, and the city was just waking up.

The Grand Orgue, l'Eglise St. Sulpice: Paris, France

We were intent on getting to St. Sulpice by 10:15am, because the organist begins the prelude for the first Sunday service then.  And St. Sulpice is home to one of the finest pipe organs in Paris. (For specific information regarding this organ and more pictures, see Les orgues de Paris.) Even more exciting is the fact that after the postlude for the first service, visitors can go up to the organ loft and see the console and organ up close.  And then, one can hang out and watch the organist play for the second service!  I had found the specifics on this in an article by Steve Fox on Rick Steve's travel website.

The Console of the Grand Orgue, l'Eglise St. Sulpice: Paris, France

The organ is set in a loft in the back of the church.  The console faces towards the nave just behind the pipes below the clock (see the picture above).  We sat ourselves down, along with a number of others who were clearly there for the music, not for the service!  The organist, who we later found out was Daniel Roth, Organist Titulaire (the head organist), played a stunning improvisation for the prelude that showed off the capabilities of this massive five rank keyboard.  We then sat through the service, some of which was supported by a smaller second organ in the front of the church.  At the conclusion of the service, Roth played a spectacular postlude.  We wandered around the back of the church trying to figure out where the door to the stairs going to the loft was.  Slowly, a group of people gathered on the left side (facing back). And, sure enough, after the postlude was finished, we were invited up. 

We climbed up a stone spiral staircase.  Then we walked past the original hand bellows.  On the right, Roth's program for the day was posted.  We then came around and were able to meet Roth and admire the organ.  He was remarkably gregarious and happy to talk to everyone.  (More on Mr. Roth and the organ in a subsequent posting.)  We hung out through the second service and had a wonderful time watching him play.  The photo below was taken on the right side of the organ loft facing the nave as we were leaving.

l'Eglise St. Sulpice from the Organ Loft: Paris, France

1909 Model O Steinway Piano

Steinway 1909 Model O, Restored March 2007

My mother passed away in July 2006.  Her Steinway grand piano was a prized possession.  Her parents bought the piano for her in the 1940's when she was in college. They lived in Queens, New York and it is hard to imagine how they fit the piano, two adults and three kids into the one floor of the house that they lived in.  Her brother and sister recall that they took out a loan to buy the piano.  My mother was an accomplished pianist and organist, and obtained a Master's degree in Sacred Music from Union Theological Seminary. 

When my mother moved to Oregon, it took a while for the piano to follow.  However, in the late 1950's there was an exchange of the Steinway grand for the spinet my mother had acquired.  The story is that the same truck driver took the Steinway out to Oregon and brought the spinet back to New York City to my grandmother's house.  Eventually, my parents decided to move to Prescott, Arizona, and of course, the Steinway came along, moving through several changes of housing.  Sadly, as my mother's health deteriorated, she played it less and less, but it stood in a position of honor in her living room.  In the last few months of her life, others came and played it for her (and for themselves, as it is a fine instrument).

My mother fussed about what was going to happen to the piano, and talked about donating it to a local organization.  However, The Sapling and I knew we wanted to bring it back to our home in New Hampshire.  It turns out that while my mother thought it was a 1925 Steinway, the piano is actually a 1909 Model O.  All Steinways have serial numbers, and from the serial number it is possible to determine the date of manufacture and the specific type of piano.  I wrote to Steinway to see what they knew about it, and they told me that the piano had been sent to a retailer in Syracuse, New York, and then sold to an individual, which didn't have a city attached to the address.  They had no other information.

Steinway 1909 Model O Keyboard with Serial Number before restoration

So, we moved it back to New Hampshire, and took it to Peter Mohr at New England Classic Piano Restorations in Manchester NH.  We were happy that we did not need to replace the soundboard, and that Peter was able to repair it.  The restoration work took about 5 months, including a complete refinishing.  Interestingly, the piano may look better than it did when it emerged from the factory almost 100 years ago.  Peter showed us how the harp (the metal part of the insides that the strings are attached to) was not very well finished.  Apparently, Steinway was rushing out the Model O's and didn't apply quite as high a degree of finish to some parts.  This also explains the difficulty we had in finding the serial number, which is normally inked in a pretty prominent location.  The restored harp and new strings are shown below.

Steinway 1909 Model 0 Restored Harp, Soundboard and Stringing

Paris - Walk to the Marais

The Sapling and I opted to walk after our long plane ride, dragging our bags, all the way from the Arc de Triomphe to our apartment near the St. Paul's station in the Marais.  Yes, we knew that we could have hopped on Line 1 and gotten there in quite a bit less time, but, we weren't supposed to arrive before 9:30am and we had plenty of time to kill.  Besides, it was an utterly gorgeous morning. 

As we walked down the Champs Elysee, our main companions were joggers and the sidewalk/street cleaners.  The walks were getting brushed and washed.  A few of the store ownere were starting to straighten up for the coming day.  The air was quite stunningly clear -- most of the days we were in Paris suffered from a fair amount of air pollution that reduced views considerably.    We (or maybe just I) were amused to see a plaque for Alberto Santos-Dumont, the namesake of a local coffee house back in southern New Hampshire.  Santos-Dumont was a Brazilian and an early aviation pioneer.  He studied in Paris and developed various lighter than air vehicles that circumnavigated the Eiffel Tower.

We progressed past the store fronts, including the ubiquitous McDonalds, and continued through a park to the Place de la Concorde.  We swung left and then headed down the Rue de Rivoli, a straight shot to the Marais. In the Marais, the Rue de Rivoli is one of the oldest streets in Paris, dating back to Roman times, and is not a product of Baron Haussmann's reengineering of Paris in the 1800's.   However, first it runs past major sites and products of later times such as the Jardin des Tuileries and the Louvre. Then, the street becomes very commercial with stores, cafes, restaurants and various other shops.

At long last we arrived at the St. Paul's station, and headed for our apartment on Rue de l'Ormesson and across from the place du Marche Sainte-Catherine.  We discovered that the apartment was seriously fortified, with a strong door and lock on the street, plus a substantial lock on the apartment. We struggled for sometime to figure out the key and lock on the apartment, which was unlike any U.S. key we had ever seen! 

Paris - Arrival and the Arc de Triomphe

The Sapling and I took a one week trip to Paris in March, 2007.  We were blessed with especially fine weather for all of the week up until the day we left.  We chose to stay in an apartment in the Marais, and then developed our own scheme of touring each day as our energy and interests dictated.   Coming from the U.S., we arrived at Charles de Gaulle (CDG) at 6:30am Saturday morning, that compressed the night time into about six hours.  East is my least favorite direction to travel!   CDG was a fascinating place, with  travelers coming from all around the globe, including cities in Africa that I did not recognize.  Our bags took forever to emerge. We then took the Air France bus into the city (about 12 Euros per person).  The bus dropped us at the Arc de Triomphe. It was a spectacularly clear and brisk morning.  We decided to walk to the Marais, hauling our bags.  As we headed down the Champs Elysee, I turned around and captured this shot.  The Arc is luminous and in sharp contrast to the deep blue sky.

Valentine's Day Snowstorm

We are getting our first significant snowstorm of this year today.  One of my favorite things to do during a snowstorm is play Judy Collins' song, The Blizzard.  You can find this song on her Fires of Eden album.  Here are the words.      

The Blizzard (The Colorado Song)
Words and Music by Judy Collins
Universal Music Corp. (ASCAP)/ The Wildflowers Company ASCAP)
(Administered by Universal Music Corp.)       

Colorado, Colorado
When the world leaves you shivering
And the blizzard blows,
When the snow flies and the night falls
There's a light in the window and a place called home
At the end of the storm.        

One night on the mountain I was headed for Estes
When the roads turned to ice and it started to snow,
Put on the chains in a whirl of white powder,
Half way up to Berthoud near a diner I know      

And the light burned inside, shining down through the snowfall
God it was cold and the temperature droppin',
Went in for coffee and shivered as I drank it,
Warm in my hands in the steam as it rose.

Sitting there at the counter was a dark headed stranger,
Me and the owner and him keepin warm,
Nodded hello and I said it's a cold one
Looks like there might be a blizzard tonight.       

And "yes", said the owner,"
There's a big storm on the mountain,
Good thing we're open, we could be here for hours
There's nothing for miles and it's too late to get to Denver,
Better not try for the summit tonight".      

And the snow fell
And the night passed
And I talked to the strangers
While the blizzard blew.      

Me and the stranger, you know I don't talk to strangers,
I'm a private sort of person but a blizzard is a blizzard,
And somehow I found myself saying you'd left me,
Tellin' him everything I wanted to say to you.      

You know how it is when you can talk to a stranger,
Someone your quite sure you'll never see again -
Soon we were laughin', and talkin', and drinkin'
He said "you must know you're too good for him".        

And the snow fell
and the night passed
And I talked to the stranger
while the blizzard blew.      

The stranger said "Love it can cry you a river -
Me, I'm a loner cause I can't take the heartache
And sometimes I'm a fighter when I get too much whiskey -
Here have a little whiskey, pretend you don't give a damn -      

My cabin's up here on the side of the mountain
You can go up there and sleep through the blizzard".
I put on my parka, said goodbye to the owner
Followed the stranger through the snow up the mountainside.        

Woke in the morning to the sun on the snow,
My car was buried in six feet of snow drifts,
They dug me out, just the owner and the stranger,
Sent me on my way when the snowplow had been by       

And the roads were all clear and the sun on the mountains
Sparkled like diamonds on the peak to peak highway -
Then I knew that I would get over you, knew you could leave me
But you'd never break me.       

Colorado, Colorado
When the world leaves you shivering
And the blizzard blows,
When the snow flies and the night falls
there's a light in the window and a place called home
At the end of the storm.

Wildflower Records
WWW.JUDYCOLLINS.COM
212-749-7221

Its Time to Say Goodbye - Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocellli

For some reason, this weekend I was exploring YouTube, and ended up watching Andrea Bocelli.  That led me to the wonderful (and famous) duet that he does with Sarah Brightman, Time to Say Goodbye or Con te Partiro. (According to Wikipedia Brightman has a three-octave vocal range that extends to an E above Soprano C.)  The version below is particularly lovely with the interaction between the two singers. 

More "Fauxtography"

It is worth taking a close look at what is in the news these days.  Michael Totten shows a clear example of a photoshopped result that is being used to help fan the flames in Lebanon.  The worst is that the image of the man with the machine gun is taken from another photo of very questionable nature. 

Winter Poetry

"Covering the land..."
by Paul Verlaine and translated by Norman R. Shapiro
One Hundred and One Poems by Paul Verlaine: A Bilingual Edition
Copyright 1999 by The University of Chicago

Covering the land—
Dismal, endless plain—
Blurring the terrain,
Snow haze gleams like sand.

Bronze the sky, with no
Glimmering of light:
Is the moon to grow
Dim, and die tonight?

In the woods, close by,
Billows the fog, cloaks
Gray the cloud-like oaks
Floating on the sky.

Bronze the sky, with no
Glimmering of light:
Is the moon to grow
Dim, and die tonight?

Scrawny wolves, and you,
Wheezing ravens, when
Winds blow sharp, what then?
What? What can you do?

Covering the land—
Dismal, endless plain—
Blurring the terrain,
Snow haze gleams like sand.

Thanks to Poems for a Long Winter's Night.

Do You Daydream?

Reuters reports this morning that scientists have been able to observe the brain's activity during daydreaming using MRI technology.  Specific parts of the brain appear to be dedicated to activity during "down" time.  Wikipedia defines "daydream" as "a fantasy that a person has while awake, often about spontaneous and fanciful thoughts not connected to the person's immediate situation."   According to WebMD, psychologists have found that we daydream for one-third to one-half of our waking hours. Daydreaming also serves valuable functions, including helping us get through tedious tasks and stimulating creatvity.  soul food cafe has guided imagery to stimulate the creative you.

Ramen Inventor Dies at 96

According to FoxNews, the Japanese inventor of instant noodles, Momofuko Ando died at the ripe age of 96.  Mr. Ando introduced the first instant Chicken Ramen in 1958. Ramen is a Japanese noodle dish of Chinese origin.  The Japanese Convenience Food Manufacturers have an interesting background about instant ramen.  My son prefers a very spicy Korean version, Shin Ramen.